“I know, they had to do this because you were
suffocating. Now that you’re awake, maybe they can
take it
out for you. Don’t try to fight the machine, let it
work
for you.” Jessica said as she hit the nurse call
light.

Nick panicked when he woke up with the tubes in
his throat. It was a terrible feeling not to be able
to
talk, swallow or breathe on your own. He was scared
and
wondered what was happening to him.

As the nurse entered the room, Jessica did not
waste a second informing her that Nick was awake. The
nurse
did an about-face and left the room. She was back in
a
minute with a resident physician and they grabbed
gloves and
walked on either side of Nick’s bed. The nurse
assisted the
physician and told Nick to relax so they could take
the
tubes out. She put her hand on his forehead and moved
it
back so that his chin pointed upwards. The resident
wasted
no time in taking the tubing and gently pulling it out
of
Nick’s mouth.

Jessica watched Nick’s face as the tubes came out
of his throat. Once the tubes were out, the nurse put
the
green oxygen tube back into Nick’s nose and then
watched to
see what the oxygen saturation levels peaked to. If
they
didn’t stay where they should be, they would have to
put an
oxygen tent around Nick.

His levels stayed at 94 percent, they weren’t the
greatest, but they would do for now. The nurse was
glad
they wouldn’t have to do anything more to Nick at this
point.

“Is there anything you need, honey?” the nurse
asked Nick as she was preparing to leave the room.

Nick opened his mouth to speak, his throat felt
weird after having the tubes in his throat. He tried
to
clear his throat, but was having difficulty in doing
so.
The nurse walked over to the sink and drew a glass of
water
for Nick and came back and had him take a sip.

“No thanks.” Nick replied hoarsely.

“I know you’re feeling pretty weak, Nick, but with
your pneumonia, you should try to take deep breaths
and you
should try to talk more. I’m gonna check with Dr.
Gaynor
and see what he thinks about trying to get you to sit
up
today. I think you’ve been laying down too long.”
The
nurse left the room.

“Wow, wouldn’t that feel good to sit up?” Jessica
asked Nick.

“Great.” Nick replied half-heartily. All he
could think of was how much it would hurt and that how
would
he stay up if he can’t feel his legs yet.

Not too much time had gone by when the nurse
cheerfully entered the room with another nurse.

“Good news Nick! We’re going to try to have you
sit up a little bit.”

“How?” Nick was puzzled. He couldn’t imagine
those two tiny women trying to move him around.

“We need you to help us, we don’t plan on doing
all of the work now.” the nurse replied as she was
slowly
raising the back of Nick’s bed. “Let me know if you
start
to feel dizzy.”

“Whoa, stop.” Nick was already feeling woozy when
the bed started to push him up.

“It’s okay we’ll go slow, you tell us when you’re
ready.”

They waited and watched Nick’s face. He looked
pale. He didn’t want to move anymore.

“Can we stop here for now?” Nick wanted this to
stop, he was scared and didn’t feel comfortable with
not
being able to feel from the waist down. He didn’t
know what
to expect.

“Sure. Let’s leave your bed up like this for
awhile and give your lungs a chance to open up
somemore. How
are you feeling?” Nick’s nurse asked.

“Okay, I guess,” Nick replied quietly. He wasn’t
sure how he felt.

“Good, then we’ll leave you up for awhile and
we’ll come back in a little bit, okay?” the nurse
asked.

“Fine.” Nick answered. He looked around his room
from his new vantage point. Everything looked
different to
him at the new angle. He looked at Jessica. She
smiled at
him.

“One step closer, eh?” Jess was trying to
encourage Nick.

“Yeah, I guess.” Nick replied. His attention got
distracted when a commercial blared loudly on the
television. It was for MTV:

Backstreet Boys new album, Millennium which
debuted last month has topped the charts. The boys
will be
kicking off their American tour in two weeks. Join us
as we
will be interviewing Nick, AJ, Howie, Brian and Kevin,
Monday, June 26 at 8:00 p.m. eastern and central.

Jess looked at Nick. This was almost like a stab
in the heart. Things had been scheduled months ago.
How
was the band going to deal with this? There was no
way Nick
would be well enough by next Monday or in two weeks.

“I guess this will give me something to shoot
for.” Nick said quietly.

“Nick, you’re crazy, how could you possibly be
ready to tour, let alone interview when you can’t even
sit
up by yourself yet?” Jessica tried to reason with
him.

“Watch me.” Nick answered bluntly.